Made my day to see one of our Snake Boxes in a lovely interview with Elizabeth Swartz of @bunnywilliams_interiordesign on @incollect ! Such a talented designer, with a great mentor, we are very excited to see her future projects! #greatclients #grateful #mademyday .
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#interiordesign #bunnywilliams #talenteddesigner #newtalent #interiorinspo #classicdesign #luxuryinteriors #nofilter #incollect #victoriaandson

Very excited to have a #LouisXVI Heating stove in our antique collection once again! These beautiful pieces of sculpture were the answer to “pre-central air”18th Century Europe. Our family has been lucky enough to deal with a few of these after WWII up until 1990 or so. We haven’t had any since, until now. #antiques #curio #art #VictoriaandSon .
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#oneofakind #curiousity #unique #uniquestyle #livingwithantiques #stylishlife #frenchantiques #cherub #putti #luxurydecor #sculpture

I know New Years feels like eons ago, but it is only January 20th and not too late for some resolutions. We found an old xeroxed print out of these resolutions written by my grandfather, Frederick Victoria and published in Town & Country January 1950! Enjoy this time-capsule (transcribed below the image)!

A Decorator's New Year's Resolutions, by Frederick Victoria - Town & Country 1950

It is January first and the holidaze is over at last. But the festive season has left its mark. The scars go deeper than the tinsel shreds imbedded in the carpet and the tack holes in the mantel that tell where once the Christmas stockings hung. There may be a crack in the overmantel plaster that appeared the day you decided to burn all the Christmas wrappings at once and there are probably a few too-permanent reminders of that frightfully gay eggnog party that, somehow, got out of hand. Christmas was fun while it lasted but you and your house are ready for a good going-over. And January is the perfect month in which to face the temporary cataclysm that comes with refurbishing. You can go South and let George do it, or supervise the work yourself in unthreatened privacy. (If you did gie a part in January, nobody would come to it.) So take stock of your tired surroundings. Perhaps a lick and a promise, or bright accent here and there will do the trick or, as is often the case, it may be that nothing short of a complete from-the-skin-out reconstruction of your domestic setting will do.

In any case, it is well to begin with a list of ironclad New Year's resolutions. Here are some suggestions, culled from years of experience with the pitfalls of my trade.

I resolve:

One. To consult my decorator. Not just any decorator but the one whose taste, judged by his previous work, seems closest to mine - or if there is room for improvement, whose taste I aspire to. If I were ill, I would certainly not attempt to cure myself, any more than I would call in a physician whom I knew to be antipathetic to me.

Two. Having chosen my decorator, I will abide by his decisions and hold his advice in higher esteem than that of well meaning friends or relatives - just as I would, having chosen a specialist to ease a malady, eschew the medication recommended by local witch doctors.

Three. I will bless my decorator for insisting that I get rid of the oversized chimney piece that came with the house and I will welcome his suggestion that I replace it with a well-proportioned mantel, low enough to bring my lovely mantel garniture into the line of vision.

Four. I will rid myself of overscaled pieces, which are usually hand-me-downs anyway.

Five. I will cast all economic considerations to the winds and ruthlessly exile the oriental rug that grandfather brought from the Far East. (I've always hated the thing, anyway.)

Six. If a figured rug or carpet is substituted for it I will resist the temptation to cover the furniture in rich, figured fabrics that would make my room look "busy."

Seven. I will re-cover the man-of-the-house's favorite leather armchair in a fabric which conforms to the new scheme, in spite of all opposition. It will be just as comfortable and much, much better looking.

Eight. I will remove the electric wiring, fake candles, and imitation-flame bulbs form all my appliques, and substitute real candles for their flattering effect.

Nine. I will strive valiantly to strip my gaze of sentiment when I look at my pictures. If they are not in sympathy with the rest of the room, out with them!

Ten. I will not try to replace them with bargains.I will remember that there is no such thing as a bargain in art.

Eleven. I will never, never no matter whether I'm expecting guest or not, forget to keep fresh flowers in my rooms.

Twelve. Above all, in my house I will strive to create and maintain a lived-in look. I will remember that nothing is less inviting than a gaunt, sparsely furnished museum.

I always find it amusing when someone causally mentions a piece of information, which they may have taken for granted, but in fact is mildly stunning to the rest of the world. My Father is a multiple offender when it comes to this.

We recently found a file of in-situ photos from a wonderful project of Howard Slatkin's which we were a part of. The project was in New Jersey and completed in the late 1990's, one of the last major projects we produced from our old 55th street location. Hope you enjoy them!

A custom vanity based on a Louis XVI commode by Victoria & Son for Howard Slatkin

Bonhams will be holding the estate sale for the late Lauren Bacall on March 31st, 2015 in New York City. You can find the complete catalog here. We were happy to find lot 116, which is a desk our founder, Frederick Victoria provided to his friend and client, Ms. Bacall. This is something Mr. Victoria would have called in the "chateau" taste; a provincial piece that reflected a bit more of the Parisian sophistication than your average provincial piece of furniture. The design is one of a few chateau-style desk designs with a superstructure from our archive. Some of these superstructures have open cubby-style openings, leather fronted "cartonnier" style drawers, or as in the case of this design, wooden drawers and doors.

Image of Victoria & Son desk 38, from the Bacall estate sale at Bonhams, 3.31.2015

We recently completed an etagere version of our Cole Porter model and had an occasion to use the original finial for this client’s project. As a model that has been made many times now, by many different hands, we thought this small detail might be intriguing. When Frederick originally made the etageres for Billy Baldwin, we used a short, domed finial with radiating gadrooning. We used these for all the etageres made in our shop at the time. However, as the model became more widely made, we ceased making the etageres around the mid-1960′s and, frankly, forgot about the finial model.

When Tony started producing the re-edited coffee table versions of the model in 2000, there was still no need for a finial on a coffee table. But around 2009, as John Archer Abbott started putting together his exhibition “Baltimore’s Billy Baldwin” at John Hopkins (http://www.museums.jhu.edu/evergreen.php?section=exhibitions&exhibition=baldwin), he contacted Tony about anything we might be able to loan to exhibit. Sure enough, we found the finial models (2 sizes) and sent them down for the exhibit along with some archival photos.

The 2 original variations for the finial

Needless to say we were thrilled our client agreed to use this original detail for their etagere and to see the model used again after a 50 year hiatus!